Detectives from Surrey, Sussex, Kent and the Metropolitan Police have been working together to try to catch a group suspected of carrying out crimes across the region since September last year.

Officers were alerted at around 7pm on Tuesday (January 13) to break-ins at homes in Midhurst and West Chiltington, both in West Sussex.

Patrols and the police helicopter began searching the wider area and they were contacted when a group of men in a stolen silver Volkswagen Golf used their vehicle to force a 27-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl in a Ford Focus to stop on the B2133 in Billingshurst, West Sussex.

The Ford was abandoned in the village and a number of people were seen running from it.

A 28-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy from Reigate were among those subsequently arrested.

Also detained were a 24-year-old man from Sidcup, Greater London, a 29-year-old man from South Eckendon in Essex, and a 20-year-old from Billingshurst.